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Chief District Judge David Barker today denied a request to disqualify the judge assigned to a medical malpractice case against Summerlin Hospital…Ruben White, who claims malpractice led to the tuberculosis-related deaths of his wife and twin daughters at the hospital, had asked District Judge Joe Hardy Jr. to withdraw from the case because of an appearance of impropriety…. The court finds that a reasonable person, knowing all the facts, would not harbor doubts about Judge Hardy's impartiality…White argued in a motion for recusal that Hardy's father, Republican state Sen. Joe Hardy, has an economic interest in the outcome of the case. White indicated he plans to file a motion in the case asking that the state's cap on medical malpractice damages be declared unconstitutional, and he argued that the judge's father has been "an active opponent" of removing the cap.

Gloucester police, taking an unconventional approach to fighting the state’s opioid epidemic, are imploring people to contact chief executives at five pharmaceutical companies and ask what they’re doing to curb the drug scourge…In a Facebook post this week that was shared more than 500 times, Police Chief Leonard Campanello listed names and contact information…exhorted the department’s....followers to reach out directly to the corporate chiefs to start a conversation about drug abuse prevention… Campanello said he believes that the executives could play a key role in finding a solution to the epidemic, but they "might need a little push" in the form of phone calls and e-mails.

Ashley Talamo, Publisher: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more. (video)

Visible from neighboring France and Germany, a new 41-storey skyscraper that drugs company Roche opened near the river Rhine…reaches 178 meters (584 ft) into the sky, easily the tallest building in Switzerland…The 550-million Swiss franc ($575 million) tower shows that the company retains its loyalty to the city of Basel where it was founded in 1896…(Roche) already has an even taller building, at 205 meters (672 ft), in the works, due to be occupied around 2021..

As pharmacists from across the nation gathered in Washington, D.C., for meetings with their congressional representatives, ASHP President John Armitstead reminded his colleagues that they are not alone in advocating for the profession's priorities…referring to Georgia Representative Buddy Carter, the only licensed pharmacist in Congress…"Provider status is very important," emphasized Carter,..cosponsor of the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act, which would recognize pharmacists as healthcare providers under Medicare in specific circumstances…Legislative Day is part of ASHP's annual Policy Week activities, which include council meetings and a trip to Capitol Hill for attendees to talk pharmacy with their elected officials.

Sen. Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee,…called for a delay and a phased-in implementation of Stage 3 of the electronic health-records program…we should delay until Jan. 1, 2017, making of the final rules for Stage 3 of the federal government’s program to require doctors and hospitals to create electronic health-record systems…should be phased in at a rate that reflects how successfully the program is being implemented…about a quarter of a million physicians and about 200 hospitals face Medicare penalties if the current Stage 2 rules are not revised. Only about 12% of physicians and 40% of hospitals have been able to comply thus far …

Lisa Kroon, PharmD, CDE, professor and department chairperson of clinical pharmacy at University of California, San Francisco, School of Pharmacy, talks about gaps in pharmacy systems' support of smoking cessation.

Pharmacy Podcast Ron Lanton talks with the president of Trovita Health Science nutritional products for patient’s special needs – William Brown. (podcast 19:23 minutes)

Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner (New Zealand) has found a man wrongly took a chemotherapy drug (cyclophosphamide) for three weeks because a pharmacy dispensed the wrong medication…The 79-year old man was supposed to be taking an immuno-suppressant (cyclosporine), following a kidney transplant…He took the chemotherapy drug for about three weeks before asking the pharmacist why his tablets had changed…The pharmacist checked the records and found a technician had filled the prescription, but that he had signed it off... he did nothing further, he didn't complete an incident form, he didn't alert the owner of the pharmacy…the pharmacist was also remiss for not offering any counselling to the patient…pharmacist has been ordered to apologise to the man in writing, and further action could follow.

Knox Singleton, Inova CEO, and Mark Bertolini, Aetna chairman & CEO, discuss ways to cut the costs of health care by changing the current model.